摘要

A unique power spectral analysis for a subcritical reactor system driven by a pulsed 14 MeV neutron source was carried out at the Kyoto University Critical Assembly (KUCA). In this analysis, a complex cross-power spectral density between time-sequence signal data from an accelerator beam ammeter and a neutron detector was measured to determine the prompt-neutron decay constant of an accelerator-driven system (ADS) from the phase data of the spectral density. Assuming the one-point kinetics model, in theory, the decay constant can be arithmetically derived from the phase at the integral multiples of the pulse repetition frequency. However, the actual derivation from the phase at a pulse repetition frequency of 20Hz considerably underestimated the prompt-neutron decay constant, compared with that obtained by a previous pulsed neutron experiment, and the derived decay constant apparently decreased with an increase in the multiple of the pulsed repetition frequency. Considering a lag time in detector response, the above underestimation and the above apparent decrease were solved to obtain the consistent decay constant. While both previous power spectral analysis and Feynman-alpha analysis for pulsed neutron source require non-linear least-squares fits of the respective complicated formulae, the present analysis makes the fitting unnecessary except at regular calibration of the lag time. This feature is advantageous for a robust online monitoring of subcritical reactivity of an actual ADS.

  • 出版日期2015-2-1